Entitled

3/8/12

Lottery winner's declaration shows attitude toward entitlements

(an editorial from the Goldsboro News-Argus; Goldsboro, NC)

Just when you thought it was safe to believe the rhetoric that there are thousands of good-hearted souls out there who are being victimized by the system, along comes someone like Michigan lottery winner, Amanda Clayton.

Even though she won a million dollars in the lottery – and owns two homes – she feels that she should still be entitled to food stamps.

She is 24 years old.

While this is mostly a case about laziness and stupidity, and the fact that it took the state months to figure out she was still receiving aid, it is also an example of an attitude that is becoming more and more prevalent among some of those who receive assistance.

They feel it is owed. So that means that if they can find a way to qualify, and an excuse not to work to find a job, any job, to stay off assistance, they are going to take it. No matter what.

It is the same old story. If you give a man a fish, he will continue to go hungry because he will wait for the next fish. But, if you teach him to be responsible for himself, and offer him the skills he needs to catch his own fish, he will be able to maintain a productive life.

And that, in a nutshell, is what is wrong with the current welfare system.

It does not reward those who strive to work, who want to work or who just need a little help to get by.

Welfare assistance goes to people in some cases who simply have figured out how to work the system. They have no intention of looking for work – and in some cases, they do not intend to feed their families either, choosing instead to trade food stamps for cigarettes and alcohol or other prohibited items.

Entitlements are handicaps. It is time that as a society we make a change in how we look at them.

Amanda Clayton is certainly proof of that.

Additon by Dr. T.R. Morris

“Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.” (James 5:8)

Prophesy changes the way you live. The third President of the US, Thomas Jefferson said, “When people in a republic find they can get money from the republic, the republic will die.” In my lifetime, 82 years, I have seen the “entitlement mentality” combined with medicare, medicaid, student loans, grants to the public, welfare system, totally change my country. How does anyone, even a liberal-democrat-communist, think this nation can survive when it takes all the taxes, collected at the point of a gun, just to pay the interest on the national debt? It is believed that the debt of all nations is greater than the total wealth of all nations... hundreds of trillions of dollars. Even the Premiere of communist China, said recently that China “must reform from it's Mis-government.” The nightmare of entitlements and derivatives is beyond comprehension, affecting every area of American life. Everyone wants government to supply their needs and they use whatever money they have left to buy their wants.

21^st century American life promotes the possibility of a change in prayer life, praying as much for those who have much as for those who have little... the very fact that politicians, bureaucrats, those in positions of Christian responsibility have become so greedy. It is not just the unwed mother who gets her welfare check increased every time she has a child... increasing her livelihood every time she takes a course at a college, but even the scientist with many letters behind his name, more interested in government grants than basic scientific method... the satisfaction of discovery-recognition.

There was a time we honored the “self-made man”, the one who, at great personal risk and hard work, persisted and became recognized for success. We now confuse success with celebrity.

People in prison live better than those who work every day. School children get all their meals at school, even when school is out. I am told that students getting free meals, so “picky”, most meals, thrown in garbage. This totally blind, 100% disabled, service connected, medical officer, veteran of the Korean War Era, living alone, preparing own meals, would be happy to have one of these meals. This veteran has never been able to get a white cane, talking watch, reading machine, from the government-military, requiring so much in education. (boards, background) before commission and ability to serve.

Academia, news-media, has cultivated a citizen who just believes anything. Students are told that Dinosaurs once had feathers, the most erroneous idea a student could be taught, if anyone has studied anything about feathers. Further, taught that oil comes from decayed dinosaurs. How did the dinosaurs wind up underground in just certain areas of the world, for instance Saudi Arabia, or under the ocean? Students are taught plant evolution. The botanist will tell you there is no such thing as evolution in plants, absolutely no plant ancestry. The simplest plants did not evolve from the more complex nor did the more complex devolve from the simplest.

One new prison in Texas, built mostly to house illegal immigrants. There are no fences, bars at windows, the prisoners come and go, showing up for meals, a place to sleep, clean clothing, healthcare. Perhaps those of us who work, who are the producers, those of us against every handicap... poverty, disability, etc., behaved ourselves-honored the law, provide our own housing, jump through all the hoops, would be better off in prison.